Photoemission electron microscopy

Photoemission Electron microscopy (PEEM, also called photoelectron microscopy, PEM) is a widely used type of emission microscopy. PEEM utilizes local variations in electron emission to generate image contrast. The excitation is usually produced by UV light, synchrotron radiation or X-ray sources. PEEM measures the coefficient indirectly by collecting the emitted secondary electrons generated in the electron cascade that follows the creation of the primary core hole in the absorption process. PEEM is a surface sensitive technique because the emitted electrons originate from a very shallow layer. In physics, this technique is referred to as PEEM, which goes together naturally with low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), and low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM). In biology, it is called photoelectron microscopy (PEM), which fits with photoelectron spectroscopy (PES), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

In 1933, Ernst Brüche reported images of cathodes illuminated by UV light. This work was extended by two of his colleagues, H. Mahl and J. Pohl. Brüche made a sketch of his photoelectron emission microscope in his 1933 paper (Figure 1). This is evidently the first photoelectron emission microscope (PEEM).

In 1963, G. F. Rempfer designed the electron optics for an early ultrahigh-vacuum (UHV) PEEM. In 1965, G. Burroughs at the Night Vision Laboratory, Fort Belvoir, Virginia built the bakeable electrostatic lenses and metal-sealed valves for PEEM. During the 1960s, in the PEEM, as well as TEM, the specimens were grounded and could be transferred in the UHV environment to several positions for photocathode formation, processing and observation. These electron microscopes were used for only a brief period of time, but the components live on. The first commercially available PEEM was designed and tested by Engel during the 1960s for his thesis work under E. Ruska and developed it into a marketable product, called the "Metioskop KE3", by Balzers in 1971. The electron lenses and voltage divider of the PEEM were incorporated into one version of a PEEM for biological studies in Eugene, Oregon around 1970.

During the 1970s and 1980s the second generation (PEEM-2) and third generation (PEEM-3) microscopes were constructed. PEEM-2 is a conventional not aberration-corrected instrument employing electrostatic lenses. It uses a cooled charge-coupled device (CCD) fiber-coupled to a phosphor to detect the electron-optical image. The aberration corrected microscope PEEM-3 employs a curved electron mirror to counter the lowest order aberrations of the electron lenses and the accelerating field.

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